Friday, August 19th 'What If' Question

Just like the many before him and the many more that will come after him, Jacques Villeneuve has been trying his hand at NASCAR.

It's been a pretty good hand too, Villeneuve has been fast and competitive in most of the races he's competed in. In some he's had the chance to win before he went and became the Jacques Villeneuve that many know and love and took himself out. Regardless, he keeps coming back and team owners keep wanting to put him in their cars.

He's driven for both Turner Motorsports and Penske Racing. Driving for Penske he was in contention for the win at Road America before he drove down into turn one and over his head. He ran into Max Papis and others as the leaders got away. The race would eventually end under caution and many of the leaders ran out of fuel. Villeneuve finished third and maybe should have won the race.

The same happened again this past weekend when he qualified on the pole in the Penske No. 22 as he filled in for the injured Brad Keselowski. Even after leading early and often Villeneuve would again take himself out of the race. On a restart he drove into turn one and locked the brakes up and slid into the grass. He decided to come back onto the track and right into eventual winner Marcos Ambrose, damaging both of their cars and sending them to the rear of the field.

While Ambrose was able to rebound Villeneuve was more of a bull in the china shop and finished 27th, again in a car that should have won the race. That seems to be the theme of Villeneuves NASCAR career, at least to this point. He'll no doubt be back in a car soon enough and will again to be one of the best drivers in the field the question just becomes, when can he put it all together and win? Everything he needs is right in front of him.

But ...

What if Jacques Villeneuve wasn't in Penske equipment when running in #NASCAR races, would he still be as competitive & fast as he's been?

@ARosser14 He was fast in the 32 car as I recall, so yes.

@ladybug388 no as you need the equipment to therefore match well with a good ability to drive. no matter the driver, they need the car & top notch team behind them to win.

@HarpAmyStabler No, cause the equipment covers at least 50% of the results w/ the exception of Kyle Busch. KyBu can make anything look good.

@mjmpgh Probably in Montreal all at least, the track's named after his dad.

Nancy Nuce (via Facebook) Well, he won the 1995 CART Championship, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One World Championship, making him only the third driver after Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to achieve such a feat. Granted, he is getting older (he's 40) and probably losing some of his oomph, but you have been on him like he's some idiot who never learned how to drive. He hasn't had as many wrecks as some others we could mention.

Dustin Parks (via Facebook) I'm not sure about that. I think because he's in familiar equipment, it helps out because he knows what he's got. At the same time, as a road course specialist, we've seen drivers like Ron Fellows run different equipment practically every year and still run near the front. I'm not saying he won't be competitive and fast if he's in say equipment from Gibbs, Roush, or even MWR. But, I think it's more about being familiar with the equipment, not so much the driver.